My Paper Heart
by Anieshwa
Summary: This is a short songfic based upon the song My Paper Heart, by All American Rejects.Just some unadulterated Graham/Emma angst/fluff! Please Review!


Disclaimer: I do NOT own One Upon A Time, nor do I own these lyrics. Please review! xD

GPOV:

I felt my heart clinch when I opened my apartment door to a crying Emma. Tears were pouring down her face in rivers and I knew that she was here because of Regina. The thought left me angry and put a bitter taste in my mouth, but this taste was new. I knew that things inside my mind had been moving at a frantic pace ever since I had met the honey blonde, but it was the easiest thing to do when I was around her.

Images had been flashing through my mind, things I didn't understand, but recognized nonetheless. I didn't know what were causing these strange images, but at the same time I knew it was all Emma. She had been visiting me after work more and more often as of late. At first it was to ask about work, then it was because of Regina, and then as our friendship grew she would come over whenever a date ended terribly, almost always with her in tears. I'd help her bottle up her old loves, or loves she had tried to form and throw them away, and watch her slowly heal. Her tears would subside and then weeks later we'd be back here, doing this same dance. A year had passed, the seasons had changed, but Emma and I were stuck in an identical dance. It hadn't been but a few hours since she caught me sneaking out of Regina's house, and to tell the truth I was thoroughly surprised to see her anywhere near me.

"Emma what…" I started to ask, but she was quick to interrupt me.

_Tears fall, down your face__  
><em>_The taste, is something new__  
><em>_Something that__  
><em>_I know moving on is,__  
><em>_Easiest when I am around you._

_So bottle up old love,__  
><em>_And throw it out to sea,__  
><em>_Watch it away as you cry__  
><em>_A year has passed__  
><em>_The seasons go_

EPOV:

"What did you want? When you hired me, was it because we were genuinely friends and you were trying to help me, or was that your way of rebelling against Regina?" I asked more tears falling then before.

"Emma, we're friends. We weren't great friends then, but I saw how strong-willed you were and I wanted to help you out and give you a job. I wasn't thinking about Regina at all when I offered you that position." He said confused as we stand in his doorway.

"Then… Why her? Why would you want to be with her? I thought… Are you just playing with me, because you're going to make my paper heart bleed…. I just want… What do you want from me?" I search his eyes desperately as my lower lip trembled. He opened his mouth to answer me, but I didn't wait for an answer.

I turned and flew out of his apartment doorway and into an elevator. As soon as the elevator door closed I crumbled against the wall and began sobbing so hard, my body shook with their force. I bolted out of his apartment building and tried to keep running down the street towards my mother's house, but my eyesight was far too blurry to keep running. I slowed to almost a complete stop and furiously tried to wipe the tears from my eyes.

_Please just don't play with me__  
><em>_My paper heart will bleed_

GPOV:

I stood there taken aback by the confrontation that had just occurred. I decided that I could no longer wait for destiny to take care of whatever might be between Emma and I. The simplest of things had made her run away. She ran because she knew about Regina and I, and because of a job. A silly little gesture that had been the first of many I had showered her with. I had been tied to this dream of being with Emma, but I had been with Regina –who was much less than Emma, I knew- and I was finally tired of settling for the lesser person.

Within a short moment after the elevator door closed I grabbed my keys from the basket next to my door, locked my apartment, and took off running into an opening elevator. I was going to catch her if I could. It didn't take me long to rush out of my apartment building and into the freezing night air. I stopped and looked up and my heart fell into my stomach at the sight before me.

"Emma, please just listen to me, I beseech you. Let me explain." I was begging. That I knew, but I couldn't let her go home angry at me.

"Explain what? Why you're with Regina? Why you flirt with me? Please, explain!" she was irate. Her eyes still poured tears, but the hurt and anger were clear in her features.

"Emma, when you saw me I had already broken up with Regina. I told her I couldn't do that with her anymore, that I didn't feel anything when I was with her. I… I've been going crazy ever since I met you, and I couldn't stay with her." I put my hands on her arms and desperately tried to reason with her.

"You…. You did? Why?" she asked as her eyes lit with hope.

"Because, I love you. I…. I think I've loved you since I met you. And I didn't want to hide that from you anymore. I didn't want _that_ anymore. I want you." I said, and her breath caught as I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. The kiss lasted a few minutes before we both pulled away breathless. As soon as it ended, however, my head pounded as memories flashed back into my head. I stepped backwards gasping in pain and shock.

"Graham? Graham! Are you alright?" She asked rushing towards me. I looked into her eyes that were full of concern and I felt awestruck. I remembered… Everything. From almost killing Mary… er Snow, to sparing her life, to getting my heart ripped out by Regina. I remembered it all…. And I was overcome with a fear. Fear at the realization that I had almost ended the life of the woman I loved, before it had even begun. "Graham? Oh God Graham, are you alright? Please say something!" she was panicking as she grasped my arm desperately.

"You…. I…. I almost…. Your mother…" I muttered, still enthralled by all the things I now remembered.

"My… mother…?" she asked but her eyes soon grew wide with understanding. "You… you remember who you were before the curse..?" she said her eyes alight with glee, but they soon fell. "Who… who were you with? Almost all of you were in relationships with your true loves before…. So who is yours?" she turned away from me to hide her face, but I knew she was hiding the hurt.

"Em, I was never with anyone, other than Regina, right before the curse. She made me stay with her when she took my heart. But I never found true love…" I took an apprehensive step forward and cupped her face in my hands. "To think, I almost ended your life before it ever started. Before I got to know you. To love you. If I had killed Snow… Then I never would have found true love." And with that I leaned in to press my lips into hers, as tears slipped from her eyes. "I love you Emma." I whispered pressing my forehead onto hers.

"I love you too." She said followed by more tears as I captured her lips once more. When I pulled away I took her hand in mine.

"Let's go to your place. Snow should be the first to know." I said with a smirk as we walked into the night together.


End file.
